A Jewel in Her Shoe
by Yunnora Lovespell
Summary: A cobbler and a princess, it was never to be.


**My first Thief & the Cobbler fic. I just watched it and fell absolutely in love with it.  
**

 **Enjoy!**

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Her eyes…

Her hair…

Her smile…

Sweet Tack could not eat, could not sleep without thinking of the princess's face. What a simple grin of hers could do to a man who desperately, pathetically in love.

He had fallen hard for a shooting star; so beautiful to look at but far too out of his reach to grasp. He had fixed her shoe with expert precision, sewing gold and rubies into the soft silk tops and around the heels so that even her feet could match the shine that radiated from her innocent soul. Both animal and man had come to adore Princess Yum Yum but only a single cobbler had fallen dangerously in like for the heir of Bagdad.

Since the fall of One-Eye the king had kept his daughter under tight lock and key. Tack had done his duty to the royal family but found himself right back where he started, alone, with only soiled footwear for company. He hadn't seen her since the great parade after the fall of One-Eye.

Since the departure of Zig Zag and the return of the golden balls, the golden city had fallen into a sort of temporary calm, retuning to its zany way of living as it had before the wounded soldier had come to warn them about One-Eye's encroaching army. At the time the cobbler had a purpose, a reason to step upon royal grounds and go to the princess. Now he had no excuse. Even if he had the courage to go forth after her the guards would surely turn him away.

He was but a lowly servant of the city and she… she an enchantress of wonder. Upon her head would soon sit the crown. He was unworthy.

But how he missed her so. Her hands had been soft, untouched by labor, and heart so full it spilled over with love only to fill his own to the brim. It made him want to sing to the heavens of his devotion to her. What he wouldn't do for her.

He craved her touch and her laughter. He hadn't known then but he knew now how terribly alone he felt without them. Having her near had scared away his demons but now they haunted him in a steady stream of smoke filled nightmares baring sharp teeth and alligator eyes.

Lying upon his side the cobbler snuggled as comfortably as he could into his mat, picking at the loosened straws at the hem. He would dream of her once more and in the deepest part of his heart, hoped he never would have to wake up. He might not be worthy of her in this life but in his dream world he was. He could provide the princess with everything she could ever want, punishing the evil that dared to stand between their love and honoring her with gifts, children, and palace full of sunlight and carnations.

The very next day Tack heard of the princess's engagement to another royal; a prince whom ruled over a land not far from Bagdad. The princess was remiss of her father's decision for her to marry, locking herself within the tallest tower of the tallest building. Its peak was lost beyond a barrier of clouds, and she refused to come down. No one but the king, his men, and the cobbler knew this.

The cobbler often went to visit her there. His heart stale from ache but mind still full of hope.

Gazing upon her sun kissed face brought him joy like he had never known.

"Princess!" He would call to the top of the tower, his voice carrying on the back of birds' wings.

The princess, hidden behind a veil of puffy white would call back to him.

"I cannot bear this. I could possibly love no other."

The black tack sitting snuggly between his lips couldn't have pierced his heart any harder than her words.

"I will not come down. Not if the man I marry is not you."

And so it was, for every seven days he would go to the top of the tallest tower in the tallest building to see the woman he could never have. She would sing to him, tell him stories and he would come with a new jewel to sew upon her shoes. The old ones she would toss from her open window, neither knowing what would come of the rubies and emeralds that fell like stardust from the cloudy sky.

To Tack's distress he would never marry the princess. She would live the rest of her life in that tower until the day she died; and the sweet little cobbler with eyes of blue and fingers nimble would continue to sew jewels into her shoes, tossing the old ones away long after her death. Only the freshest of diamonds and pearls could even begin to rival Princess Yum Yum's brilliance.

And every afternoon a thief would sit at the bottom of the tower, heart swollen with pity for the lonely cobbler before he out stretched his hands, ready to catch every gem.


End file.
